Position Available

Who is Natural Justice

Natural Justice is a young and fast-paced non-profit organisation specialising in human rights and environmental law. We support communities and local organisations, conduct comprehensive research on environmental and human rights law, provide technical advice to governments and intergovernmental organisations, and engage in key international processes in pursuit of environmental justice. Natural Justice works in a number of African countries, with Hubs in Cape Town, Nairobi and soon Dakar.

What we’re looking for

Natural Justice is about to open a new regional Hub in Dakar to coordinate our work in francophone Africa. At the same time, we are expanding our work on Extractives and Infrastructure Projects to francophone Africa, starting with Guinée and Senegal.

With the increase in mining, major infrastructure and and agro-business projects in the region, there are increasing impacts upon marginalized communities dependent on their environments. In 2017, we conducted a study in Guinée examining the strategies used by communities and civil society to mitigate the impacts of extractives and infrastructure projects and to seek remedies. Based on the results, out future work in Guinée will use community legal empowerment approaches to address some of the identified capacity gaps. We are planning a similar approach in Senegal starting this year, starting with the preliminary research to inform our future work.

We are seeking a full-time programme manager to develop and implement our work on Extractives and Infrastructure Projects in the region, with a focus on Guinée and Senegal. The successful candidate will be based in Dakar, with regular travel both national and internationally, including regular stays in Guinée. They will be expected to begin work as soon as possible.

What’s on offer

Natural Justice is a small, close-knit and nurturing collective that places emphasis on facilitating opportunities for the professional and personal growth of its members. Natural Justice will offer a competitive salary commensurate with skill and experience. The contract length will be full-time for one year with the intention of a longer-term arrangement. Joining Natural Justice will also give the successful candidate a chance to work with a passionate and professional team in a fast-paced environment and gain valuable national and regional experience.

The key roles and responsibilities

Strategic planning and implementation

Develop and ensure the implementation of a strategy and plan for our work on Extractives and Infrastructure in Guinée and Senegal and at the sub-regional level.

Build partnerships with relevant local, national and regional organisations.

Facilitate the transfer of successful approaches, the exchange of experiences and lessons from our work in East/Southern Africa to Guinée and Senegal.

Contribute to the overall Extractives and Infrastructure programming and strategy.

Technical support, research and training

Support local communities in Guinée and Senegal affected by large-scale extractives, infrastructure and agro-business projects, by providing technical and legal advice, and by developing and implementing legal empowerment approaches.

Develop and deliver trainings and learning exchanges on legal empowerment and environmental justice for local civil society organisations.

Leverage the insights from the legal empowerment work for technical advice to national governments and advocacy towards improved legal and policy frameworks.

Conduct research on relevant issues such as legal and institutional frameworks, the state of compliance of extractives and infrastructure projects with the law, and local strategies used by communities to achieve mitigation of impacts and remedies.

Publish the results of research findings, draft submissions on law and policy, write opinion articles on the outcomes of the programmatic work.

Coordination and oversight

Provide oversight to a national programme officer based in Guinée.

Develop a work plan with the national programme officer and ensure the completion of outputs.

Assist in reporting to project donors.

Report to the Programme Director for Extractives and Infrastructure, and to the Hub Director for francophone Africa.

Minimum qualifications and experience required

A master’s degree in law, political science or other relevant social science discipline.

At least 5 years of demonstrated work expertise and interest in environmental law, including natural resource law, land law and extractive industries issues.

Application process

Include a motivation letter that indicates why you feel you are the best candidate for this position, a detailed CV with three references, and maximum three samples of your past work (for example, articles or research reports). Please ensure that your application as a whole speaks to the required skills and experience and desirable traits and attributes listed above.